Darcy Jones doesn't remember anything before the day she was abandoned as a child outside a Chicago firehouse. She has never really belonged anywhere--but she couldn't have guessed that she comes from an alternate world where the Great Chicago Fire didn't happen and deadly creatures called Shades terrorize the human population.
Memories begin to haunt Darcy when a new boy arrives at her high school, and he makes her feel both desire and desired in a way she hadn't thought possible. But Conn's interest in her is confusing. It doesn't line up with the way he first looked at her.
As if she were his enemy.
When Conn betrays Darcy, she realizes that she can't rely on anything--not herself, not the laws of nature, and certainly not him. Darcy decides to infiltrate the Shadow Society and uncover the Shades' latest terrorist plot. What she finds out will change her world forever . . .
In this smart, compulsively readable novel, master storyteller Marie Rutkoski has crafted an utterly original world, characters you won't soon forget, and a tale full of intrigue and suspense.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
The Ending that Broke the Book
By Gretchen @ My Life is a Notebook
Thanks to Macmillan Publishing and NetGalley for this eARC!Lately, I've been very lucky to get my hands on books that started out mediocre but redeemed themselves in the end.This is not one of those books.In fact, the first part of this book was hankering for a higher rating. I'll admit, there was nothing entirely compelling about the characters from the get go, but the world and the plot was engrossing despite myself. I was sucked in and had a hard time finding stopping points for when I had to do things like school and work. This is always a very, very good sign.I've mentioned that I dislike when books start at this really crucial point, only to back up at the beginning of the real first chapter-and that's what happened here. Still, I soldiered on and was rewarded. I'm an English major (well, that's half a double major, but I digress), so the whole theme of T. S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock caused serious love from me. That was a touch I totally wasn't expecting from this paranormal romance. I was actually really surprised by the plot and the way that twisted, too, but ... well, I have a confession:I totally forgot to reread the blurb before I read it. So, yeah. The whole Shade thing? BLEW MY MIND. (Remind me to never, ever get this backed up on reviews again.)I did find the concepts of the two different Chicagos difficult to understand, and yeah that was after I figured out what was going on. I felt like I needed a little bit more explanation there. However, the Shade v. humans thing was really well established-as was the Shades themselves-so I didn't really mind as much because man Shades are COOL.Given the clarity of the whole Shade thing, I was really invested in the plot, even if the characters were fairly one-dimensional. The romance wasn't overly terrible or overly exciting, but it fit into the plot nicely and didn't overpower it. I was humming along, ready to give this sucker about four stars or so.Then some things right before the ending happened. And my suspension of disbelief was broken and I was tossed from the story, quite rudely.The problem is, I can't tell you what happened.The point of the matter is, though, that some fairly improbable things occurred towards then end, and then things fell together far too easily. The ending was confusing and entirely unrealistic. There is no WAY Darcy and Co could have what happened to them after all the tension and fighting in the rest of the book. There is just NO. WAY. After the seamless run of the rest of the book, I was greatly disappointed and the rating of the book dropped an entire star. I don't even understand if the ending was setting up for a sequel or not. Goodreads certainly doesn't have any information on such a thing, though that certainly isn't gospel. All in all, the ending turned an enjoyable book into a confusing one and left me with a very different impression than the one I had for most of the book.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Very Interesting Paranormal
By Pacey1927
"The Shadow Society" was my first experience with reading a novel by Marie Rutkoski. I really ended up enjoying this novel and I hope there will be more stories in this world. The story is about a girl named Darcy who has no memory of her life before she was five years old. After being passed around several foster families she is now living with a single foster mom and they get along pretty well. She also has a great group of friends at school and she is pretty happy with everything except she wonders about her parents and how she came to be orphaned.Then a mysterious boy named Conn shows up at school. At first he is distant but then they are paired together and begin work on a special project at school. Things start to heat up between them and Darcy starts to have feelings for him. I will admit at this part of the story I figured it was turning into another generic YA Paranormal boy meets girl love story. I may have even rolled my eyes a little bit. Oh me of little faith! Conn does something to betray Darcy and then reveals another world dimension to her that runs parallel to hers. And Darcy may have originated from it.I don't want to give away any key plot points but I really enjoyed the book from here on. There are two different warring groups trying to destroy each other and Darcy ends up right in between them. She still has feelings for Conn but there is another boy who shows interest in her. Darcy struggles with unlocking the secrets of her first five years.The story features new and unique paranormal creatures and a romance that takes a back seat to the mystery and adventure in the novel. The story also features a nice and complete conclusion although there are enough interesting ideas left to easily lead the way for a sequel. And I really hope there will be. I loved the ending of the story and the characters really evolved into some that I would love to see more of.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.Can I get a Dictionary and a Sequel to go with this?
By Inky
This book has a very intriguing premise. It drew me in and I really enjoyed this book. I can't say I loved it or hated it, but it sits right in the middle place, where all the books you liked goes. So I had things I liked and things I didn't like.Let us begin with Darcy, the MC. She has a cool name that made me think of Colin Firth the whole book, but otherwise it was good. So she doesn't know anything about what happened before she turned 5 and was put into the Foster Care system. But that all changes the day she sees this mysterious guy at school. I felt like at the beginning she was easy to understand and connect to, her quest for self-discovery, and what her past was. But where were a few times when she was just so.....not as gripping? I didn't feel like I ever hated her, there were just some parts where there were lapses in character development. But on the whole I thought Darcy was a nice MC.Okay so Conn is obviously a big part of this book. And I just had to laugh because he literally is a Con-man. :P Oh the irony. I'm not sure what to think about Conn. He's mysterious for sure, and he's hot, but I felt I was missing part of him. So much of the book is left untold about him during the times we question his loyalty that I wish it was told in his perspective.Especially since I think this book is meant to be a stand-alone. Which I base all my dislikes on. This book idea has the potential to at least have a sequel. I think it would have been better that way. Room for more things. I think it felt a little rushed and confusing when things came to and end and when we first meet and learn about the society. That WHOLE BOOK, I kept asking myself. "Why?" What is the motivation behind this? Why are they trying to do that? What happened between these two groups of people to ignite this fight? WHY? It was rather annoying not to find out when the questions were the base of the conflict.I did really like the romantic nature of the plot. It does start pretty quick but then takes a sharp twist about 100 pages in. That gave to some unique things and changes to happen, and I pretty forgot that it was almost -well-kinda-was- insta-love at the beginning of the book. Darn you insta-loves. It was a very interesting concept on the whole and one that I would love to explore even more. Sadness about stand-alones. ;)Soo, my overall thoughts were something along the lines of: Eeping awesome read! Yay so fun. Hot guys, Ghosts, but WHY? Why this? Why that? You can't have this happen without an explanation. Grr. But I still love you Conn.Content: Mild(A few instances of language and innuendo. Kisses)
